Awards

The International Symposium on Electrets is delighted at the unique opportunity of honouring three of its veterans: Professor Takeo Furukawa, Professor Eiichi Fukada and Professor Robert Fleming.

The Scientific Advisory Committee (SAC) has nominated Professor Takeo Furukawa to deliver the Bernhard Gross Memorial Lecture at the ISE 2019. He was selected in recognition of his pioneering work in ferroelectricity and piezoelectricity in polymer electrets such as polyvinyledene difluoride (PVDF) and for his continuing support and contributions to ISE as a member of its SAC as well as Chair of the 13th ISE in Tokyo in 2008.

Professor Furukawa received an MS and a Doctor of Engineering from the University of Tokyo, Japan. Between 1968 and 1992 he worked as a Research Scientist at the Biopolymer Physics Laboratory established by Professor Eiichi Fukada at the Institute of Physical and Chemical Research (RIKEN), Japan. In 1993 he became a Professor in Tokyo University of Science, where he worked until 2010. Professor Furukawa worked as a visiting scientist and professor at AT&T Bell Laboratories and Rutgers University, USA, Tokyo Metropolitan University, Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology, Waseda University, Toyo University, Kyoto University, Yamagata University, Gifu University, Hokkaido University, Osaka University, Tokyo Institute of Technology, Japan and University of Malaya as an Academic Icon. Since 2010, Professor Furukawa is working as a Distinguished Research Scientist at the Kobayasi Institute of Physical Research and a Professor Emeritus at Tokyo University of Science.

A Special Recognition from International Symposium on Electrets is presented to Professor Eiichi Fukada for his outstanding and seminal achievements as a pioneer and scientific leader in bio-polymer electrets and bio-piezoelectricity since the 1950s.

Professor Eiichi Fukada, Special Recognition from the International Symposium on Electrets

Professor Fukada received a BSc and a Doctor of Science from the University of Tokyo, Japan. He worked as a Research Member of Kobayasi Institute of Physical Research, Tokyo between 1944 and 1963. He founded in 1963 Biopolymer Physics Laboratory at the Institute of Physical and Chemical Research (RIKEN), Saitama where he served as the Research Director until 1980. He was also a Professor at the Department of Physics of Gakushuin University, Tokyo during this time and concurrently served RIKEN, Saitama as an Executive Director, Kobayasi Institute of Physical Research, Tokyo as a Director and a Research Advisor, Institute of Super Materials, ULVAC Japan Ltd, Tsukuba as a Research Advisor, Rion Co. Ltd., Tokyo as a Research consultant. He worked as a Visiting Professor at New York University and as a Guest Scientist at the Hal B. Wallis Research Facility, Eisenhower Medical Center, Rancho Mirage, USA. He worked as a Visiting Professor at the Institute of Physics and Chemistry at São Carlos, University of São Paulo, Brazil; Institute of Electroacoustics, Technical University of Darmstadt, Germany; Faculty of Physics, University of Constance, Germany; and Institute for Material of Electrotechnology, Technical University of Aachen, Germany. He received many national and international recognitions and awards including Achievement Prize from The Institute of Electrostatics, Japan; Scientific Achievement Award from the Society of Polymer Science, Japan; Scientific Achievement Award from Japan Society for Biomaterials; Galvani Award from International Symposium on Electrobiology; Society Prize from the Society of Rheology, Japan; The Third Order of the Sacred Treasure, Japan; Poiseuille Gold Medal Award, from International Society of Biorheology; and Oka Syoten Special Award from Japanese Society of Biorheology, Japan. Professor Fukada is an Emeritus Scientist of RIKEN, Saitama and Kobayasi Institute of Physical Research, Tokyo.

Professor Robert Fleming is recognised by the IEEE Dielectrics and Electrical Insulation Society for his outstanding service as Editor-in-Chief of the Electrical Insulation Magazine from 2008 to 2018.

Professor Robert Fleming is recognised for his services as Editor-in-Chief of the Electrical Insulation Magazine.

Robert Fleming graduated in Mathematics and Physics from Queens University Belfast, and was awarded the Ph.D degree from Queens for an experimental study on the transport of low energy electrons through gaseous helium at low pressures. After a two-year period as Assistant Lecturer in Physics he took up an appointment as Senior Lecturer in the Department of Physics, Royal Military College of Science, Shrivenham, UK, where he commenced research on the electrical and luminescence properties of organic polymers under ionizing radiation. He moved to the Department of Physics, Monash University, Melbourne, Australia in 1967, where he continued his research on polymers, including theoretical work on the excluded volume problem. He retired from Monash as Reader in Physics at the end of 2000, but kept his experimental research work going for another ten years. In September 2002, he organized and chaired the 11th International Symposium on Electrets in Melbourne. In January 2008 he took up an appointment as Co-Editor-in-Chief of the IEEE Electrical Insulation Magazine. He retired as Editor-in-Chief in September 2018.